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Christianity Today, November (Web-only), 2008 |

THEOLOGY IN THE NEWS

One Hundred Years of Wit and Wisdom

Lyle Dorsett extols G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy.

Interview by Collin Hansen | posted 11/17/2008 10:52AM

Since he published Orthodoxy in 1908, G.K. Chesterton has inspired Christians and challenged skeptics with his unique wit and wisdom. He delivered biting analysis still relevant today: "A man was meant ...

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Anonymous

Posted: November 20, 2008 2:40 PM


to r.b. who mentioned c s lewis the ''protestant'' friend of chesterton. lewis converted to catholicism also.

Sue De Vries

Posted: November 18, 2008 9:03 AM


Good brief article, but I would have liked additional examples or a side bar with some more quotes from Chesterton's works.

RJR_fan

Posted: November 18, 2008 8:31 AM

Daniel Tammet, the autistic author of the surprise best-seller "Born on a Blue Day," became a Christian through the witness of a fellow autistic-spectrum disorder dude, G. K. Chesterton. GKC could write one article while simultaneously dictating another, but sometimes got lost trying to walk home, and had to telephone his wife for directions! GKC was incredibly prolific, but sometimes you need to sift through a lot of chaff to find the valuable nuggets. "The Man Who Was Thursday" is an incredible meditation, a jocular meditation, on the Book of Job. "The Broken Sword" unforgettably warns us against reading "our own Bibles," alone, when God intends for us to approach His Word together. "Nothing is easier than being serious. Satan fell through excess of gravity."

Anonymous

Posted: November 18, 2008 12:30 AM

my fovourite quote from Chesterton is "any stick will do to beat the Church with." or in our pluralistic era " the picture of Buddha and Christ are so different Buddha is pictured as sitting and half a asleep, while Christ is dying on a cross but ready to step down into action." as for Lewis he still is the one to quote with those who have problems with the Faith. How can one forget his comments in Screwtape Letters; like his picture of the devils having such tempting power when they sees someone go up to the altar. or the way he spoke about the Love of God in his Four Loves. We are privileged to have had them, frneville

Robert

Posted: November 17, 2008 7:07 PM

Chesterton is simply magnificent, and it's not possible to rate him highly enough. I say that as a Calvinist too. I haven't found any living apologist who can turn his world on its head with such common sense, spirited writing, and loving humor. Not only that, in his personal life he made his faith so winsome as to be close friends with proto-postmodernist George Bernard Shaw, even as he savaged his worldview. Who today could be so firey and friendly toward the captives of this world on top of such prolific writing?

TK	Posted: November 17, 2008 4:19 PM


I'm a CS Lewis fan, am now reading "Orthodoxy" and find it interesting and challenging. My favorite quote from GKC is– "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." -from Chapter 5, What's Wrong With The World, 1910

R.B.	Posted: November 17, 2008 3:16 PM


I loved both works (Orthodoxy and Everlasting Man). I also love the works of his Protestant peer and close friend, C.S. Lewis. But I'd debate whether his criticisms of Calvinism and Puritanism are that off mark (despite how it 'upsets' some Evangelical readers). He'd be one tough-love Catholic apologist, if he were around today!

PJ	Posted: November 17, 2008 2:01 PM


I'd recommend Everlasting Man as well. It's second on Lewis' list of books that most influenced him.

Forester

Posted: November 17, 2008 1:23 PM


Nice interview! Thanks to an encounter with Chesterton in a college class, "Orthodoxy" has become the most influential (and quotable) literary work in my life this side of the Bible.

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